You may wonder how that question appeared in my mind on this day, July 4, 2011. I did have to go way back in the recesses of my memory to find it.
This is a question I've been asked by every new dentist I've ever visited. There really is a scar - on the roof of my mouth - a result of a rather weird accident on the 4th of July (I'm guessing here) 1960.
We were living in Hibbing, MN at the time. I was on the trapeze on our swing set - holding my
One end was a ball adorned in massive amounts of silver glitter. The other end was basically a stick.
I was holding the baton in my hand - stick side up - and decided to swing strong and then jump off the trapeze. It was something I did all the time - just never with a stick in my hand.
When I landed - my feet hit the ground and the opposite re-action was the upward motion of my arms. The stick found its way into my (obviously) open mouth. Net result - roof puncture!
I clearly remember that it didn't really hurt. What started the panic was when I realized that I was bleeding. What I didn't know at the time was how serious it could have been if the stick had gone in about 1/4 inch further.
I was lucky. The guardian angel of glitzy batons was watching over me that day.
It healed fine, left a scar...
...and has puzzled dentists ever since.
No comments:
Post a Comment